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As more young people survive cancer, the issue of fertility preservation is front and center. Dr. Karen Albritton and her team explore the challenges of preserving fertility in children, teens and young adults undergoing cancer treatment and the latest breakthroughs in oncofertility that are delivering promise for the future.Dr. Karen Albritton
Related InformtationOncofertilityAdolescent/Young Adult (AYA) ProgramLife After CancerOncologyHematology and OncologyHematology and Oncology ResearchFort Worth Adolescent and Young Adult Onoclogy Coalition
Transcript
00:00:02
Host: Hello and welcome to Cook Children's Doc Talk. A while back we talked with Dr. Karen Albritton the medical director of Cook Children’s adolescent and young adult program in the Hematology and Oncology Center, and she oversees the Oncofertility Program. We also spoke with Olivia Prebus who was instrumental in developing the role of fertility navigator for the program. More recently, we talked with Toni Leavitt who we’ll be introducing later in the program. Toni is the current fertility navigator and we'll be sharing updates about the Oncofertility Program.
Dr. Albritton is trained in both pediatric and medical oncology and specializes in the care of adolescents and young adults with cancer. She recognizes the unique needs of these young patients and the challenging decisions they face about day to day living that most people take for granted. One of the biggest and often overlooked as how fertility is impacted by the cancer treatment they receive. As an active advocate for AYA cancer patients, doctor Albritton was instrumental in founding the AYA program here at Cook Children’s as well as the Fort Worth AYA Oncology Coalition, which provides resources for cancer patients and survivors, health professionals and community members. The Fort Worth AYA Oncology Coalition launched the first community supported AYA oncology inpatient unit in the nation and offers young adults diagnosed with cancer age relevant resources and specialized care designed to improve their lives before, during, and after cancer.
It is through her experience with AYAs that doctor Albritton has seen a need to consider fertility as part of all pediatric cancer care and establishing the oncofertility program here at Cook Children’s. Welcome.
 
00:01:48
Dr. Albritton: Thanks for having us.
00:01:51
Host: So let me start by asking what oncofertility is and why it's important?
00:01:55
Dr. Albritton:  Oncofertility is a relatively new term in the cancer world and it is a combination of 2 fields, reproductive endocrinology which deals with fertility for people with and without cancer for many different reasons who are seeking to either preserve their fertility or attempt to have children to use fertility methods to have biologic children, and many years ago it was realized that cancer patients have their fertility affected by the cancer treatments and that these 2 fields came together in a way to try to preserve fertility, mon...

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